Ghostly Shadows Shattered in Broad Daylight, Five Steps to Immortality

Early that morning, Jiang Yi emerged from the Eastern Palace with a dark expression. He sighed again and again as his ox cart carried him through the streets.

His steward's voice suddenly came from outside. "My lord, isn't that your friend from the Bureau of Literary Works? Shall I invite him to ride with you?"

Jiang Yi glanced out the window and saw Zhang Ju hurrying along.

Remembering their last meeting, Jiang Yi shook his head. "No. He's like those envoys from the two northern kingdoms—he never says what he truly means. I'd rather not see him."

The steward acknowledged this, then asked whether he should take him home.

"I'm in a foul mood," Jiang Yi said. "Take me to Fortune's Arrival Tower. It might help me unwind."

Before long, he had gathered there with several friends, as he often did.

At first, they chatted about this and that as usual. Soon, though, someone noticed his low spirits and asked what was wrong.

Jiang Yi did not hide it. "A few days ago, the Zhou Kingdom sent an envoy to propose a diplomatic exchange." He sighed heavily.

His friends exchanged glances.

"And a few days before that, the Qi Kingdom sent one too." Jiang Yi sighed again.

At last, someone asked, "Such exchanges are affairs of state, meant to foster goodwill between kingdoms. Why do you keep sighing, Jiang Yi?"

Anger showed on Jiang Yi's face. "Both envoys seem courteous, and their manners are impeccable, but it's all an act. They're arrogant to the bone. The letters they delivered are peremptory, their wording presumptuous. They haven't come to propose an exchange—they're issuing orders as though we were their vassal! But the previous dynasty left our kingdom weak, and His Majesty wishes to let the people recover. So we have no choice but to keep our heads down and yield at every turn!"

Grief showed on every face around him.

"The two northern kingdoms descend from barbarians," someone said angrily. "They seized the heartland. How can their claim to legitimacy and Righteousness compare with ours? Yet now they bully us!"

"It goes back to the previous dynasty," another said. "The Hou Jing Rebellion a dozen years ago laid bare the weakness beneath its Image. Though Gaozu restored order throughout the realm, wretches like Xiao Ji did more harm than good. They let Bashu fall to the north. Otherwise, how could things have come to this?"

"Goujian endured hardship to prepare for his triumph," someone offered in comfort. "His Majesty has great ambitions. Give him a few years, and our dynasty will surely flourish!"

Despite all they said, Jiang Yi remained gloomy.

Just then, several cheers rose from downstairs.

"Jiang Yi, why don't we go listen?" someone suggested. "There's a new narrative piece that's supposed to be quite good."

The mention finally roused Jiang Yi's interest. "The one I didn't get to hear before I left that day?"

"That's the one," they all said.

"You're bound to like it," someone added.

"Let's hear it." Jiang Yi rose without hesitation. As they went downstairs, he asked in passing, "Where's Zheng? He could give us his opinion as we listen."

None of them had seen him.

"I haven't seen him for two days," one said. "I passed his house yesterday and thought I'd visit, but no one answered, though I knocked for ages. Perhaps he's studying at his estate outside the city."

Jiang Yi nodded and asked no more. He went downstairs with the others, and the manager personally led them to a private seating area.

"The Painted Skin? Interesting title. I've been busy going to and from the Eastern Palace these past few days, so I haven't heard much about it." Jiang Yi lounged in his chair and looked toward the stage.

Fortune's Arrival Tower knew what its patrons liked. Whenever a fine story appeared, it not only had performers recite and sing it, but also put a few actors onstage to move through the scenes. It was one of the tower's specialties.

A man and a woman, dressed as a scholar and a young lady, now walked toward each other onstage.

As the tale unfolded, Jiang Yi lifted his teacup and shook his head.

He had long since grown tired of stories about gifted scholars and beautiful women. The opening of The Painted Skin disappointed him. It seemed little different from countless other romances and tales of the strange: a scholar met a beauty, and the two began living together.

As the story went on, Jiang Yi kept shaking his head, certain he had guessed the rest—

The woman would turn out to come from a wealthy household. Her family would find her and humiliate the scholar, who would promise to return in a few years. Either he would be revealed as the heir of an Aristocratic Clan, or he would trade his brush for a sword, win glory on a northern campaign, and prove them wrong. Then he and the beauty would reunite, and the tale would end in triumph and laughter.

While he was thinking this, a man dressed as a Daoist suddenly stepped onstage and bowed to the audience.

Over a quickening pipa melody, the storyteller described the ghost-hunting Daoist finding the scholar and warning him.

Jiang Yi finally perked up and sat a little straighter.

Soon the tale reached the part where the scholar spied on the evil ghost. The curtain behind the stage suddenly bulged, and an Azure-purple ghost's head burst through!

It happened so abruptly, while Jiang Yi was watching so intently, that he jumped. His teacup slipped from his hand and struck the table, spilling tea across it and onto the floor.

The manager, who had been attending them, hurried over to apologize and called a waiter to clean up the mess.

Jiang Yi waved it off. "No harm done." Then he laughed and cursed. "What a trick! I can't believe they pulled that off!"

"That ghost's head looked so real it even frightened our talented Jiang," someone beside him said.

"The day before yesterday, it was just a vague outline woven from bamboo," another said. "How did they make it so lifelike? With that Azure face and those fangs, you might think a real demon had appeared!"

"The craftsman suddenly had a flash of inspiration and made it overnight," the manager replied. "What do you think, gentlemen?"

"Excellent! Excellent!"

Jiang Yi clapped and laughed. With a fresh cup of tea, he immersed himself completely in the story.

In the tale, Wang Sheng saw the evil ghost's true form and, terrified, ran after the Daoist. Though he received a way to avert disaster, it was no match for the ghost's savagery. The ghost tore out his heart.

Jiang Yi shook his head and sighed. "His mistake was at the very beginning. Mending the pen after the sheep escaped was no use!"

The Daoist then learned what had happened and subdued the ghost. He told Wang Sheng's wife to seek out a mad beggar. After saying his piece, the beggar made her swallow his spittle, then vanished. Helpless, she returned home. At the final moment, she coughed up a heart, and Wang Sheng came back to life.

The tale ended, of course, with a lament over the folly of humankind.

At last, the story and music ended, the performers dispersed, and the audience burst into cheers.

Jiang Yi's friends praised it as well. Jiang Yi, however, sat motionless in his chair, deep in thought.

When a friend asked what was on his mind, Jiang Yi drew a deep breath. "The Painted Skin will surely become famous throughout Jiankang. Its deeper meaning strikes close to home. Those two northern envoys are like the ghost in the tale: polite in appearance, malicious beneath. Their proposed exchanges are only an Image. Yielding blindly will invite disaster. We must put a stop to their designs from the start!"

He rose at once, eager to leave. But at the door he remembered that he could not see the Crown Prince just then. Frowning, he returned to his seat.

His friends tried to reassure him, though none dared discuss affairs of state any further.

"There's no need to worry. I understand," Jiang Yi said, waving a hand. Then he asked, "A work this masterful must have come from a great writer. Who wrote it? I'd like to share a drink with him and speak freely."

They exchanged glances, but no one answered.

The manager, unaware of the reason for their silence, smiled. "It was written by the Marquis of Linru County!"

"The Marquis of Linru County?" Jiang Yi looked puzzled. After a moment, recognition dawned. "The Prince of Nankang's brother?"

"That's right!"

"Well, this is..." Jiang Yi sat dazed for a moment, then looked at his friends. "I remember you mentioned this story last time."

They gave him sheepish looks.

"It was mostly Zheng who criticized it," one said. "We just agreed with him. None of us had read it then."

"And Zheng hadn't read it either, had he?" Jiang Yi shook his head and laughed. "There's danger in judging something you don't know. Perhaps he heard the story, felt too ashamed to show his face, and that's why he's vanished these past few days?"

An awkward silence fell over the group.

Just then, a crash sounded from a nearby private room, as if someone had swept a heap of things to the floor. Angry voices and reprimands followed.

The manager excused himself and hurried away.

Jiang Yi glanced over and saw a group of people leave the room in a fury.

"That man..." He narrowed his eyes and recognized the one in front. "I think that's Lu Le."

The others looked and nodded. "It really is."

Jiang Yi laughed. "How curious. Lu Le has been trading on his brother Lu You's name for the past year. His career has flourished, and people everywhere think highly of him. What's made him so angry today?"

The others only smiled.

After a little more conversation, Jiang Yi said his troubles had been eased and took his leave.

Once aboard his ox cart, he recalled the road here and summoned his steward. "We saw Zhang Ju earlier, didn't we?"

"Yes."

Jiang Yi waved a hand. "Invite him to my house for a drink."

The steward looked surprised. You pretended not to see him on the way here, and now you want to invite him? That was quick!

Before that thought had even passed, Jiang Yi leaned out of the cart window again. "Find out whether the Marquis of Linru County is at home. I'll pay him a visit another day."

The steward paused, then agreed.

The cart rolled on.

A Daoist approached from the opposite direction. His face was thick with Curly Beard, his back was ramrod straight, and a Peachwood Sword hung across it.

He passed the cart, then stopped and snatched at the empty air.

Crack!

A blue-Azure ghostly shape took form in his hand. He crushed it in his fist.

"Hmph! Ghosts roaming about in broad daylight. The Southern Dynasty's days truly are numbered."

"That was clearly a manifestation of incense offerings," the wooden sword on his back suddenly said. "Now that you've seen it, aren't you going to destroy its source? Anyone who dares visualize a ghost must be a villain, even if he isn't one of the Creation Dao's Demonic Evil!"

"That ghost was only at the first step of the Transcendent Realm. Leave it to someone else." Curly Beard Daoist strode on. "I came to guide a reincarnated immortal. Lu You was deceived by the Celestial Masters Dao's tricks and led astray. Finding a Body-Cleansing Object for him has already delayed me long enough. I can't put it off any longer, or we'll miss the opening of the Blessed Land!" He quickened his pace.

"Heh, then you've missed something," the Peachwood Sword said with a shrill laugh. "I caught the scent of Peach Paradise on that ghost's remains!"

"What?"

The Daoist stopped dead and roared, "Nonsense!"

He was in the middle of a bustling street, yet no one gave his outburst a second glance.

"I came from Beyond the Mundane myself. How could I be wrong?" The Peachwood Sword chuckled. "The first step is the Transcendent Realm, the second the Dao Foundation, the third Longevity, the Fourth-Step Return to Truth, and the Five Steps Beyond the Mundane. Reach Beyond the Mundane, and a Peach Paradise is sure to arise with you—what Buddhists call a Buddha Land..."

"Utter nonsense!" Curly Beard Daoist said coldly. "The Five Steps Beyond the Mundane means ascending to immortality. How could someone at that stage remain in the mortal world? Since the Calamity of Supreme Purity, even those who have attained Longevity have been rare, let alone Beyond the Mundane." He started walking again.

The wooden sword sounded surprised. "Hey! You're just going to ignore it?"

"Never mind that no one at Beyond the Mundane should be here. Even if there is..." Curly Beard Daoist spoke as though the answer were obvious. "How the hell am I supposed to deal with him? Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have stayed in Jiankang!"

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